The Invincibles: GeForce 8800 GTX Roundup. Page 8

Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTX retain the position of the world’s highest performing graphics adapter. Today we are going to talk about four models of this solution from Asustek Computer, Foxconn, OCZ Technology and XFX and find out what their appealing features are for the hardcore users. Read our new VGA roundup now!

Since we believe that the use of tri-linear and anisotropic filtering optimizations is not justified in this case, the graphics card drivers were set up in standard way to provide the highest possible quality of texture filtering.

ATI Catalyst:

Catalyst A.I.: Standard

Mipmap Detail Level: High Quality

Wait for vertical refresh: Always off

Adaptive antialiasing: Off

Temporal antialiasing: Off

High Quality AF: On

Other settings: by default

Nvidia ForceWare:

Texture Filtering: High quality

Vertical sync: Off

Trilinear optimization: Off

Anisotropic optimization: Off

Anisotropic sample optimization: Off

Gamma correct antialiasing: On

Transparency antialiasing: Off

Other settings: by default

We selected the highest possible graphics quality level in each game. We didn’t modify the games’ configuration files. Performance was measured with the games’ own tools or, if not available, manually with Fraps utility. We also measured the minimum speed of the cards where possible.

Since GeForce 8800 GTX belongs to the most expensive high-end graphics solutions, it means that the users buying these graphics cards will most likely have a monitor with over 24” diagonal at their disposal. Therefore, we decided to include the 2560x1600 resolution into the list of our test modes. If the game didn’t support the resolution that high, we stuck to the standard set of test modes: 1280x1024/960, 1600x1200 and 1920x1200. We used “eye candy” mode everywhere, where it was possible without disabling the HDR or Shader Model 3.0 increasing the image quality. We enabled FSAA and anisotropic filtering from the game’s menu. If this was not possible, we forced them using the appropriate driver settings of ATI Catalyst and Nvidia ForceWare.

Besides the Asustek, Foxconn, OCZ and XFX solutions we have also included the following graphics cards into our test session:

Since the graphics cards from Asustek, Foxconn and OCZ are shipped with reference frequencies, we decided not to include all four graphics cards into the performance charts, as their results are identical. Moreover, we didn’t include the numbers for overclocked graphics cards as well, because the overclocking results vary from card to card and cannot be guaranteed.